Living Well with Dementia

I usually try to make my Blips say something about my day so that I am building up a journal record of my life.  Today needed to be one of those days and more so.

I have been to a Dementia Matters Conference today at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.  The opening keynote speaker was this wonderful man who is living with Dementia.  Early stages for him, but he spoke without notes in a totally honest and unaffected way about what living with Dementia means to him.  What an inspiration!
Here are some of the things he said:


I don't want a long, slow goodbye.
I am alive until I'm dead.
I want a life worth living.
We are all connected.
I want to be an advocate for people who can't speak for themselves.
Lazarus had a life to live before he could die.
Human Beings are all good otherwise God wouldn't love them.
Church is inside me and I share it with you.  It does not have to be a building.
My mission is for my heart to embrace your heart...


I can say no more about that.

The second speaker suggested that we can all live in the past but we need to be loved in the present and that those living with Dementia need a place where they matter, where they are understood, a place that values their life story, a place designed not to limit or control but to interest and engage, a place where care and compassion is wrapped around them, where life can be lived to the full and they can die with dignity.

The third speaker was also incredibly challenging and I am finding his ideas very moving and thought-provoking.  I am not sure I can share them with you yet but it was about our relationship with God and the relationship of broken, vulnerable human beings with one another and with God with the ultimate message that we should slow down and recognise each other's common humanity and each other's story...

After that we moved into workshop groups and I was privileged to have been asked to lead two sessions enabling those attending to become Dementia Friends.

A worthwhile, rewarding day which encouraged me to carry on doing the things I am doing to try to raise awareness of Dementia and it affirmed my belief that I have to work hard to sustain and continue my Mom's story, identity and dignity.

May you all find encouragement and comfort if you are in need.  Live well.